The film was a box-office hit, earning more than $60 million in the US with an estimated budget of $15 million, and received positive reviews from critics. As a result of its success, four sequels have been produced over the last three decades: European Vacation (1985), Christmas Vacation (1989), Vegas Vacation (1997), and most recently, Vacation (2015) which serves as both a reboot and a continuation. In 2000, readers of Total Film voted it the 46th greatest comedy film of all time.[3] It continues to be a cult film and a staple on cable television.

Contents

Clark Griswold, wanting to spend more time with his wife Ellen and children Rusty and Audrey, decides to lead the family on a cross-country expedition from the Chicago suburbs to the southern California amusement park Walley World, billed as "America's Favorite Family Fun Park." Ellen wants to fly, but Clark insists on driving, so he can bond with his family. He has ordered a new car in preparation for the trip, but the dealer claims that it will not be ready for six weeks. Clark is forced to accept a Wagon Queen Family Truckster, an ugly, out-sized station wagon, as the car he brought to trade in has already been hauled away and crushed.

During the family's travels, they run into numerous mishaps, such as being tagged by vandals in a rundown area of St. Louis, Missouri, while Clark is tantalized numerous times by a beautiful young woman driving a flashy red 1983 Ferrari. They stop in Coolidge, Kansas to visit Ellen's cousin Catherine and her husband Eddie, who foist cranky Aunt Edna and her mean dog Dinky on the Griswolds, asking them to drop her off at her son Norman's home in Phoenix. After stopping at a decrepit and dirty campground in Colorado for the night, Clark forgets to untie Dinky's leash from the bumper before driving off the next morning, killing the dog. A state trooper pulls the Griswolds over and angrily lectures Clark over animal cruelty but accepts Clark's apology; Edna learns of her dog's death and becomes more irate with Clark. Exiting Colorado, Ellen loses her bag which had her credit cards, forcing Clark to have to cash a check for future spending.

While Ellen and Clark argue during a drive between Utah and Arizona, they crash and become stranded in the desert. After setting off alone in the desert to look for help, Clark eventually reunites with his family, who have been rescued and taken to a local mechanic. The mechanic extorts the remainder of Clark's cash only to make the car barely operational. Frustrated, they stop at the Grand Canyon; when Clark cannot convince a hotel clerk to cash a personal check because his credit card was reported stolen, he takes cash from the cash register behind the clerk's back and leaves the check. Leaving, they find that Aunt Edna has died in her sleep. They tie the deceased to the roof of the car, wrapped in a tarpaulin. When they reach Norman's home, they discover he is out of town and leave Edna's body at the back door. Having enough of the road-trip and of the mishaps they encountered, Ellen and the children want to go back home, but Clark has become obsessed in reaching Walley World and they continue on. After an argument with Ellen, Clark eventually meets the Ferrari-driving blonde beauty at a hotel and goes skinny-dipping with her in its pool, but they are discovered by the family before anything untowards can transpire. Ellen forgives Clark, and the couple goes skinny-dipping as well.

Despite the family's misfortunes, they finally arrive the next day, only to find that the park is closed for the next two weeks for repairs. Finally slipping into madness and realizing that all his efforts have been for nothing, Clark buys a realistic-looking BB gun and demands that park security guard Russ Lasky take them through Walley World; Ellen and the kids follow, attempting to placate Clark. Eventually, an LAPDSWAT team arrives, along with park owner Roy Walley. Roy understands Clark's impassioned longing to achieve the perfect vacation, bringing back memories of his own family's vacation headaches. He decides not to file criminal charges against the Griswolds and lets the family – and the SWAT team – enjoy the park as his guests.

During the Chicago Blizzard of 1979, writer John Hughes began developing a short story entitled "Vacation '58" for an issue of the National Lampoon. While the story ended up being bumped from the initial vacation-themed issue, it was eventually published in September 1979 and subsequently optioned by Warner Bros.[4] "When I brought it to Hollywood, the first guy I brought it to was Jeff Katzenberg who was at Paramount," recalled producer Matty Simmons, who worked as a publisher at the National Lampoon. "He said it would never make a movie, it was too episodic, too consequential. I said, 'Yeah, it's a road trip. It's supposed to be episodic. You go from town to town, place to place.' But he didn’t like it, so then my agent brought it to Warner Brothers, and I met with them. Most of them said the same thing, but there was one executive over there—a guy named Mark Canton—who really pulled for it and it got made."[5] Upon Simmons' agreement with Warner Bros., Hughes was assigned the task of adapting his original story into a screenplay.[6]

In Hughes' original short story, the theme park was Disneyland. To avoid legal troubles, all of the names associated with Disneyland were altered to sound-alikes. For instance, the park became Walley World, itself a good-natured parody of the Anaheim location, and the mascot, Marty Moose, is reminiscent of Walt Disney's own Mickey Mouse.[4] Similarly, Roy Walley's appearance bears similarities to that of Disney and his name is similar to that of his brother Roy Disney.[citation needed]

The Wagon Queen Family Truckster station wagon was created specifically for the film. It is based on a 1979 Ford LTD Country Squire station wagon.[12] The car was designed by George Barris, and it lampooned American cars of the late 1970s. The Truckster features a pale avocado metallic green paint scheme; extensive imitation wood-paneling decals; eight headlights (the second pair was taken from another Crown Victoria/Country Squire and mounted upside-down below the stock pair); a grille area largely covered by bodywork with only two small openings close to the bumper; an oddly-placed fuel filler door; and an airbag made from a trashcan liner.[13]

In the 2015 film Vacation (a sequel to the original), the Wagon Queen Family Truckster reappears at the bed-and-breakfast garage of Clark and Ellen Griswold. The Truckster used in this later film is the creation of Lisa and Steve Griswold, a real-life family living in Atlanta, who created the replica wagon to take family trips with their two daughters. In July 2014, the real-life Griswolds drove across the United States, visiting the locations seen in the original film, and ended their journey on the 31st anniversary of the film at Walley World (Six Flags Magic Mountain), so they could ride the Colossus before Six Flags' planned closure of the roller coaster.[14]

National Lampoon's Vacation opened theatrically in 1,175 venues on July 29, 1983 and earned $8,333,358 in its opening weekend, ranking number one at the domestic box office.[16] The film grossed $61,399,552.[2]

The film received positive reviews from critics. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 93% rating based on 43 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "Blessed by a brilliantly befuddled star turn from Chevy Chase, National Lampoon's Vacation is one of the more consistent – and thoroughly quotable – screwball comedies of the 1980s."[17]Metacritic reports a 60 out of 100 rating based on six critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[18] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale; the company's founder said in 2016, "I loved it ... I couldn't figure out for anything why people didn't love that more".[19]

Janet Maslin of The New York Times gave the film a positive review, saying, "National Lampoon's Vacation, which is more controlled than other Lampoon movies have been, is careful not to stray too far from its target. The result is a confident humor and throwaway style that helps sustain the laughs – of which there are quite a few."[20] Entertainment magazine Variety called the film "an enjoyable trip through familiar comedy landscapes" and praised "director Harold Ramis for populating the film with a host of well-known comedic performers in passing parts."[21] Conversely, Richard Rayner of Time Out magazine said, "The visual gags come thick and fast, and are about as subtly signposted as the exit markers on a freeway. An exercise in the comedy of humiliation which is the stuff of shamefaced giggles."[22] In August 2015 it was listed as the best film in the Vacation film series by Daniel Cohen.[23]

National Lampoon's Vacation was first released on VHS, Betamax, Laserdisc, and CED in late 1983. It was later released again on VHS in 1986, 1991, 1995 and 1999. It was first released on DVD in 1997. The DVD was presented in an open-matte full screen presentation. Its only feature was the film's theatrical trailer. A 20th anniversary DVD was released in 2003. It included an anamorphic widescreen transfer. Its bonus features included an audio commentary with director Harold Ramis, producer Matty Simmons, and stars Chevy Chase, Anthony Michael Hall, Dana Barron, and Randy Quaid. It also included an introduction with Chase, Simmons, and Quaid, a family truckster interactive featurette gallery, and the film's theatrical trailer. A Blu-ray was released in 2013. It included the same features from the 20th Anniversary DVD and included the A&E documentary: Inside Story: National Lampoon's Vacation.

1.
Walmart
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Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. doing business as Walmart, is an American multinational retailing corporation that operates as a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores, and grocery stores. Headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, the company was founded by Sam Walton in 1962, as of January 31,2017, Walmart has 11,695 stores and clubs in 28 countries, under a total of 63 banners. The company operates under the name Walmart in the United States and it operates as Walmart de México y Centroamérica in Mexico and Central America, as Asda in the United Kingdom, as the Seiyu Group in Japan, and as Best Price in India. It has wholly owned operations in Argentina, Brazil, and Canada and it also owns and operates the Sams Club retail warehouses. Walmart is the worlds largest company by revenue, according to the Fortune Global 500 list in 2016 and it is a family-owned business, as the company is controlled by the Walton family. Sam Waltons heirs own over 50 percent of Walmart through their company, Walton Enterprises. Walmart is also one of the worlds most valuable companies by market value, in 2016,62.3 percent of Walmarts US$478.614 billion sales came from its U. S. operations. The company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972, by 1988, Walmart was the most profitable retailer in the U. S. and by October 1989, it had become the largest in terms of revenue. A Walmart in York, Pennsylvania opened in October 1990, bringing the store to the Northeast. In 1945, a businessman and a former J. C. Penney employee, Sam Walton and his primary focus was on selling products at low prices to get higher-volume sales at a lower profit margin, portraying it as a crusade for the consumer. He experienced setbacks, because the price and branch purchase were unusually high. He passed on the savings in the product pricing, sales increased 45 percent in his first year of ownership to US$105,000 in revenue, which increased to US$140,000 the next year and US$175,000 the year after that. Within the fifth year, the store was generating US$250,000 in revenue, when the lease for the location expired, Walton was unable to reach an agreement for renewal, so he opened up a new store at 105 N. Main Street in Bentonville, naming it Waltons Five and Dime and that store is now the Walmart Museum. On July 2,1962, Walton opened the first Walmart Discount City store at 719 W. Walnut Street in Rogers, within its first five years, the company expanded to 24 stores across Arkansas and reached US$12.6 million in sales. In 1968, it opened its first stores outside Arkansas, in Sikeston, Missouri and Claremore, the company was incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. on October 31,1969. In 1970, it opened its office and first distribution center in Bentonville. It had 38 stores operating with 1,500 employees and sales of US$44.2 million and it began trading stock as a publicly held company on October 1,1970, and was soon listed on the New York Stock Exchange

2.
Chevy Chase
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Cornelius Crane Chevy Chase is an American actor, writer, comedian and producer. Born into a prominent New York family, he worked a plethora of jobs before moving into comedy. He immediately became a key cast member in the season of Saturday Night Live. He has hosted the Academy Awards twice and briefly had his own talk show. Chase was born in Lower Manhattan, New York, and was raised in Woodstock and his father, Edward Tinsley Ned Chase, was a prominent Manhattan book editor and magazine writer. His maternal grandmother, Cathalene, was a singer who performed several times at Carnegie Hall. Chase was named for his adoptive grandfather Cornelius, while the nickname Chevy was bestowed by his grandmother, as a descendant of the Scottish Clan Douglas, the name seemed appropriate to her. Chase is a 14th-generation New Yorker, and was listed in the Social Register at an early age, according to his brother John, once told me that people who defined themselves in terms of their ancestry were like potatoes – the best parts of them were underground. He disdained the pretension of my mothers side of the family, as embodied by her mother, as a child, Chase vacationed at Castle Hill, the Cranes summer estate in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Chases parents divorced when he was four, his father remarried into the Folgers coffee family and he has stated that he grew up in an upper middle class environment and that his adoptive maternal grandfather did not bequeath any assets to Chases mother when he died. In a 2007 biography, Chase stated that he was physically and psychologically abused as a child by his mother and stepfather, both his parents died in 2005. Chase attended Riverdale Country School before being expelled and he ultimately graduated from the Stockbridge School in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. He then attended Haverford College during the 1962–63 term, where he was noted for slapstick comedy, Chase transferred to Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, where he studied a pre-med curriculum and graduated in 1967 with a BA in English. Chase did not enter medical school, which meant he would be subject to the military draft, Chase played drums with the college band The Leather Canary, headed by school friends Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. Chase has called the group a bad jazz band, Becker and he played drums and keyboards for a rock band called Chamaeleon Church, which recorded one album for MGM Records before disbanding in 1969. Chase was a member of an underground comedy ensemble called Channel One which he co-founded in 1967. He also wrote a spoof on Mission, Impossible for Mad Magazine in 1970 and was a writer for the short-lived Smothers Brothers TV show comeback in the spring of 1975. Chase made the move to comedy as a career by 1973, when he became a cast member of The National Lampoon Radio Hour

3.
Christie Brinkley
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Christie Brinkley is an American model and actress. Brinkley gained worldwide fame beginning in the late 1970s with three consecutive Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue covers through 1981 and she spent twenty five years as the face of CoverGirl, has appeared on over 500 magazine covers, and has signed contracts with major brands—both fashion and non-fashion. Brinkley went on to work as an actress, illustrator, television personality, photographer, writer, designer, and activist for human and animal rights, Brinkley has been married four times, most notably to musician Billy Joel, several of whose music videos she appeared in. Her fourth marriage, to architect Peter Cook, ended in a much-publicized 2008 divorce, with a career spanning more than three decades, magazines such as Allure, Playboy, and Mens Health have named Brinkley one of the most attractive women of all time. Her financial holdings in 2008 were worth an estimated US$80 million, in February 2012, she was ranked third in the Daily Mail list Worlds 20 richest models. Brinkley was born Christie Lee Hudson in Monroe, Michigan, the daughter of Marjorie and her family moved to Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California, where her mother Marjorie later met and married television writer Don Brinkley in Bel Air, Los Angeles. Don adopted Christie and her brother Gregory Donald Brinkley, during this time, the family lived in Malibu and then the Brentwood neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Brinkley was educated at Paul Revere Junior High School and attended Le Lycée Français de Los Angeles from 9th to 12th grade, after graduation in 1973, she moved to Paris, France, to study art. Brinkley was discovered in 1973 by American photographer Errol Sawyer in a post office in Paris and he took her first modeling pictures and introduced her to John Casablancas of Elite Model Management agency in Paris. Brinkley stated later, I was basically a surfer girl from California, I never looked like a model. Multiple appearances on the cover of Glamour soon followed, along with a record 25-year contract with cosmetics brand CoverGirl, in 2005, CoverGirl again signed Brinkley, using her in ads in magazines and TV commercials for mature skin products. Brinkley was featured exclusively in the first Sports Illustrated Calendar and also released two of her own exclusive calendars to unparalleled success and she has held major contracts with Chanel No. 19, Prell, MasterCard, Breck, Diet Coke, Anheuser-Busch, healthy Choice, Max Factor, Nissan, Noxema, Revlon, Clairol, Borghese Cosmetics, Danskin, Nu Skin, Yardley of London, Halston, Vogue Patterns, Gottex and Black Velvet, among others. Brinkley has been photographed in six continents in more than 30 countries, in 2011, she appeared as herself in the documentary, King of the Hamptons, which was produced by filmmaker, Dennis Michael Lynch. The film premiered at the 2010 Hamptons International Film Festival, on April 8,2011, in New York, Brinkley made her stage debut as Roxie Hart in the long-running musical Chicago. Brinkleys appearance on NBCs Mad About You was the broadcasters highest rated episode since the finale of The Cosby Show. She hosted Celebrity Weddings InStyle, the highest rated special in Lifetimes history, Brinkley made further television appearances, including Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue Specials and music videos for beau Billy Joel and Mick Jones Just Wanna Hold. Brinkley appears with Chuck Norris in a series of cable TV infomercials promoting Total Gym home fitness equipment

4.
Warner Bros.
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Entertainment Inc. – colloquially known as Warner Bros. or Warner Bros. It is one of the Big Six major American film studios, Warner Bros. is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America. The companys name originated from the four founding Warner brothers, Harry, Albert, Sam, Jack, the youngest, was born in London, Ontario. The three elder brothers began in the theater business, having acquired a movie projector with which they showed films in the mining towns of Pennsylvania. In the beginning, Sam and Albert Warner invested $150 to present Life of an American Fireman and they opened their first theater, the Cascade, in New Castle, Pennsylvania, in 1903. When the original building was in danger of being demolished, the modern Warner Bros. called the current building owners, the owners noted people across the country had asked them to protect it for its historical significance. In 1904, the Warners founded the Pittsburgh-based Duquesne Amusement & Supply Company, in 1912, Harry Warner hired an auditor named Paul Ashley Chase. By the time of World War I they had begun producing films, in 1918 they opened the first Warner Bros. studio on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Sam and Jack produced the pictures, while Harry and Albert, along with their auditor and now controller Chase, handled finance and distribution in New York City. During World War I their first nationally syndicated film, My Four Years in Germany, on April 4,1923, with help from money loaned to Harry by his banker Motley Flint, they formally incorporated as Warner Brothers Pictures, Incorporated. The first important deal was the acquisition of the rights to Avery Hopwoods 1919 Broadway play, The Gold Diggers, however, Rin Tin Tin, a dog brought from France after World War I by an American soldier, established their reputation. Rin Tin Tin debuted in the feature Where the North Begins, the movie was so successful that Jack signed the dog to star in more films for $1,000 per week. Rin Tin Tin became the top star. Jack nicknamed him The Mortgage Lifter and the success boosted Darryl F. Zanucks career, Zanuck eventually became a top producer and between 1928 and 1933 served as Jacks right-hand man and executive producer, with responsibilities including day-to-day film production. More success came after Ernst Lubitsch was hired as head director, lubitschs film The Marriage Circle was the studios most successful film of 1924, and was on The New York Times best list for that year. Despite the success of Rin Tin Tin and Lubitsch, Warners remained a lesser studio, Sam and Jack decided to offer Broadway actor John Barrymore the lead role in Beau Brummel. The film was so successful that Harry signed Barrymore to a contract, like The Marriage Circle. By the end of 1924, Warner Bros. was arguably Hollywoods most successful independent studio, as the studio prospered, it gained backing from Wall Street, and in 1924 Goldman Sachs arranged a major loan

5.
National Lampoon (magazine)
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National Lampoon was an American humor magazine which ran from 1970 to 1998. The magazine started out as a spinoff from the Harvard Lampoon, National Lampoon magazine reached its height of popularity and critical acclaim during the late 1970s, when it had a far-reaching effect on American humor and comedy. The magazine spawned films, radio, live theatre, various sound recordings, many members of the creative staff from the magazine subsequently went on to contribute creatively to successful media of all types. During the magazines most successful years, parody of every kind was a mainstay, almost all the issues included long text pieces, shorter written pieces, a section of actual news items, cartoons and comic strips. Most issues also included Foto Funnies or fumetti, which featured nudity. The result was a mix of intelligent, cutting-edge wit, combined with some crass. In both cases, National Lampoon humor often pushed far beyond the boundaries of what was considered appropriate. As co-founder Henry Beard described the years later, There was this big door that said. We touched it, and it fell off its hinges, the magazine declined during the late 1980s and never recovered. It was kept alive minimally, but ceased publication altogether in 1998, the magazines first issue was dated April 1970. The company that owned the magazine was called Twenty First Century Communications, after a shaky start for a few issues, the magazine rapidly grew in popularity. Like the Harvard Lampoon, individual issues had themes, including topics as The Future, Back to School, Death, Self-Indulgence. The magazine regularly reprinted material in best-of omnibus collections and its writers joyfully targeted every kind of phoniness, and had no specific political stance, even though individual staff members had strong political views. National Lampoon was a magazine for most of its publication history. Numerous special editions were published and sold simultaneously on newsstands. Some of the editions were anthologies of reprinted material, others were entirely original. Additional projects included a calendar, a songbook, a collection of designs for T-shirts. The magazine sold yellow binders with the Lampoon logo, designed to store a years worth of issues, the original art directors were cartoonist Peter Bramley and Bill Skurski, founders of New Yorks Cloud Studio, an alternative-culture outfit known at the time for its eclectic style

6.
Cult film
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A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase, a subculture that engage in repeated viewings, quoting dialogue. Inclusive definitions allow for major productions, especially box office bombs, while exclusive definitions focus more on obscure. The difficulty in defining the term and subjectivity of what qualifies as a cult film mirror classificatory disputes about art, Cult films trace their origin back to controversial and suppressed films kept alive by dedicated fans. In some cases, reclaimed or rediscovered films have acquired cult followings decades after their original release, Other cult films have since become well-respected or reassessed as classics, there is debate as to whether these popular and accepted films are still cult films. After failing in the cinema, some films have become regular fixtures on cable television or profitable sellers on home video. Others have inspired their own film festivals, Cult films can both appeal to specific subcultures and form their own subcultures. Other media that reference cult films can easily identify which demographics they desire to attract, Cult films frequently break cultural taboos, and many feature excessive displays of violence, gore, sexuality, profanity, or combinations thereof. This can lead to controversy, censorship, and outright bans, films that fail to attract requisite amounts of controversy may face resistance when labeled as cult films. Fans who like the films for the reasons, such as perceived elements that represent mainstream appeal and marketing. Likewise, fans who stray from accepted subcultural scripts may experience similar rejection, since the late 1970s, cult films have become increasingly popular. Films that once would have limited to obscure cult followings are now capable of breaking into the mainstream. Films are frequently stated to be an instant cult classic now, fickle fans on the Internet have latched on to unreleased films only to abandon them later on release. At the same time, other films have acquired massive, quick cult followings, easy access to cult films via video on demand and peer-to-peer file sharing has led some critics to pronounce the death of cult films. A cult film is any film that has a following, although the term is not easily defined. Cult films are defined by audience reaction as much as they are content and this may take the form of elaborate and ritualized audience participation, film festivals, or cosplay. Over time, the definition has become more vague and inclusive as it drifts away from earlier, stricter views, academic Mark Shiel has criticized the term itself as being a weak concept, reliant on subjectivity, different groups can interpret films in their own terms. Academic Mike Chopra‑Gant says that cult films become decontextualized when studied as a group, in 2008, Cineaste asked a range of academics for their definition of a cult film

7.
Chicago
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Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the third-most populous city in the United States. With over 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the state of Illinois, and it is the county seat of Cook County. In 2012, Chicago was listed as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Chicago has the third-largest gross metropolitan product in the United States—about $640 billion according to 2015 estimates, the city has one of the worlds largest and most diversified economies with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. In 2016, Chicago hosted over 54 million domestic and international visitors, landmarks in the city include Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Campus, the Willis Tower, Museum of Science and Industry, and Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicagos culture includes the arts, novels, film, theater, especially improvisational comedy. Chicago also has sports teams in each of the major professional leagues. The city has many nicknames, the best-known being the Windy City, the name Chicago is derived from a French rendering of the Native American word shikaakwa, known to botanists as Allium tricoccum, from the Miami-Illinois language. The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as Checagou was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir, henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the wild garlic, called chicagoua, grew abundantly in the area. In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by a Native American tribe known as the Potawatomi, the first known non-indigenous permanent settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was of African and French descent and arrived in the 1780s and he is commonly known as the Founder of Chicago. In 1803, the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed in 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn, the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes had ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, on August 12,1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 4,000 people, on June 15,1835, the first public land sales began with Edmund Dick Taylor as U. S. The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4,1837, as the site of the Chicago Portage, the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicagos first railway, Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, and the Illinois, the canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants from abroad, manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy. The Chicago Board of Trade listed the first ever standardized exchange traded forward contracts and these issues also helped propel another Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage

8.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565

9.
St. Louis
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St. Louis is an independent city and major U. S. port in the state of Missouri, built along the western bank of the Mississippi River, on the border with Illinois. Prior to European settlement, the area was a regional center of Native American Mississippian culture. The city of St. Louis was founded in 1764 by French fur traders Pierre Laclède and Auguste Chouteau, in 1764, following Frances defeat in the Seven Years War, the area was ceded to Spain and retroceded back to France in 1800. In 1803, the United States acquired the territory as part of the Louisiana Purchase, during the 19th century, St. Louis developed as a major port on the Mississippi River. In the 1870 Census, St. Louis was ranked as the 4th-largest city in the United States and it separated from St. Louis County in 1877, becoming an independent city and limiting its own political boundaries. In 1904, it hosted the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and the Summer Olympics, the economy of metro St. Louis relies on service, manufacturing, trade, transportation of goods, and tourism. This city has become known for its growing medical, pharmaceutical. St. Louis has 2 professional sports teams, the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball, the city is commonly identified with the 630-foot tall Gateway Arch in Downtown St. Louis. The area that would become St. Louis was a center of the Native American Mississippian culture and their major regional center was at Cahokia Mounds, active from 900 AD to 1500 AD. Due to numerous major earthworks within St. Louis boundaries, the city was nicknamed as the Mound City and these mounds were mostly demolished during the citys development. Historic Native American tribes in the area included the Siouan-speaking Osage people, whose territory extended west, European exploration of the area was first recorded in 1673, when French explorers Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette traveled through the Mississippi River valley. Five years later, La Salle claimed the region for France as part of La Louisiane. The earliest European settlements in the area were built in Illinois Country on the east side of the Mississippi River during the 1690s and early 1700s at Cahokia, Kaskaskia, migrants from the French villages on the opposite side of the Mississippi River founded Ste. In early 1764, after France lost the 7 Years War, Pierre Laclède, the early French families built the citys economy on the fur trade with the Osage, as well as with more distant tribes along the Missouri River. The Chouteau brothers gained a monopoly from Spain on the fur trade with Santa Fe, French colonists used African slaves as domestic servants and workers in the city. In 1780 during the American Revolutionary War, St. Louis was attacked by British forces, mostly Native American allies, the founding of St. Louis began in 1763. Pierre Laclede led an expedition to set up a fur-trading post farther up the Mississippi River, before then, Laclede had been a very successful merchant. For this reason, he and his trading partner Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent were offered monopolies for six years of the fur trading in that area

10.
Ferrari 308 GTB/GTS
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The Ferrari 308 GTB berlinetta and targa topped 308 GTS are V8 mid-engined, 2-seater sports cars manufactured by the Italian company Ferrari from 1975 to 1985. The 308 replaced the Dino 246 GT and GTS in 1975 and was updated as the 328 in 1985, the similar 208 GTB and GTS were equipped with a smaller initially naturally aspirated, later turbocharged 2-litre engine, and sold mostly in Italy. Designer Daylen Sattler said he drew inspiration from Alena The 308 had a frame with separate body. The 308 GTB/GTS and GT4 were mechanically similar, and also shared much with the original Dino, both 308s sit on the same tube platform, however the GT4—being a 2+2—has a longer wheelbase. The engine was a V8 of a 90 degree configuration, with twin overhead camshafts per cylinder bank. It was transversely mounted in unit with the transmission assembly. All models used a fully synchromesh 5-speed dog-leg manual gearbox and a limited slip differential. Suspension was all-independent, comprising double wishbones, coaxial coil springs and hydraulic dampers, steering was unassisted rack and pinion. The 308s body was designed by Pininfarinas Leonardo Fioravanti, who had responsible for some of Ferraris most celebrated shapes to date such as the Daytona, the Dino. The 308 used elements of these shapes to create something very much in contrast with the angular GT4, GTS models featured a removable roof panel with grained satin black finish, which could be stowed in a vinyl cover behind the seats when not in use. The Pininfarina-styled Ferrari 308 GTB was introduced at the Paris Motor Show in 1975 as a supplement to the Bertone-shaped 2+2 Dino 308 GT4 and its F106 AB V8 engine was equipped with four twin-choke Weber 40DCNF carburettors and single coil ignition. European versions produced 255 PS at 6600 rpm, but American versions were down to 240 PS at 6,600 rpm due to control devices. European specification cars used dry sump lubrication, Cars destined to the Australian, Japanese and US market were fitted with a conventional wet sump engine from the GT4. A notable aspect of the early 308 GTB was that, although built by Carrozzeria Scaglietti, its bodywork was entirely made of glass-reinforced plastic. This lasted until June 1977, when the 308 was switched to steel bodies, standard wheels were 5-spoke 14-inch alloy. 16-inch wheels were available later as an option, together with sports exhaust system, high compression pistons. At the 1977 Frankfurt Motor Show the targa topped 308 GTS was introduced, independently from the market, all GTS used a wet sump engine and were steel-bodied. European GTB models retained the dry sump lubrication until 1981, there were 3219 GTS and 2897 GTB examples were made during the 1975–1980 production periods